Method of preparing a collagenous shrimp and fish feed

ABSTRACT

Warm dispersions of collagen that are useful as lubricants and binders when used to make extrusion mixtures or pellets of flours and meals and that form gels that do not liquefy when heated are prepared from washed and neutralized hides by comminuting the hide material, warming the comminuted hide usually to above 40*C. and treating the comminuted hide in a higher shear field.

United States Patent 1 91 111 3,864,498 Whitmore et al. Feb. 4, 1975 [54] METHOD OF PREPARING A 3,628,974 12/1911 1331115111 106/125 COLLAGENOUS SHRIMP AND FISH FEED 3,671,261 6/1972 Ayukawa et al. 126/72 1 Inventors: g gg m g FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS i9 l i lf nmi ard 12115 19 26,297 7/1969 Japan 426/364 Pawnee Rd., New Britain, Pa. 18901 Primary Examiner-A. Louis Monacell Assistant Examir'zerCurtis P. Ribando [22] Flled 1973 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-M. Howard Silverstein; Max [21] Appl. No.: 393,251 D. Hensley; William E. Scott Related US. Application Data Warm dispersions of collagen that are useful as lubri- [52] US. Cl 426/1, 426/147, 426/358, cams and binders when used to make extrusion 426/3641 126/8051 426/350 tures or pellets of flours and meals and that form gels [51] Int. Cl A23k l/l8 that do not liquefy when heated a prepared from [58 Field of Search 426/350, 364,516, 805, washed and neutralized hides by comminuting the 426/2 1471 1681 1; hide material, warming the comminuted hide usually 260/117 118 to above 40C. and treating the comminuted hide in a h h h f' ld. [56] References Cited lg er 8 ear 16 UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/1971 Kanemitsu 426/73 1 Claim, N0 Drawings METHOD OF PREPARING A COLLAGENOUS SHRIMP AND FISH FEED This is a division of application Ser. No. 294,958, filed May 19, 1972, now abandoned.

A non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license in the invention herein described, throughout the world for all purposes of the United States Government, with the power to grant sublicenses for such purposes, is hereby granted to the Government of the United States of America.

This invention relates to warm dispersions of colla gen and more particularly to the preparation and application of such dispersions.

Collagen is a high molecular weight, insoluble fibrous protein. As a nonwoven fabric in the form of hides and skins it is ideal for the manufacture of leather/However, the whole hide is not suitable for leather-making purposes and those parts that are not made into leather must be disposed of in other ways. For example, trimmings are processed into gelatin, glue and tankage. In the production of shoe-upper leather the hide is split to produce the desired thickness from the grain side and split from the flesh side is usually in surplus.

Fibrous collagen has some unique physical and chemical properties. but the natural state within the hide limits its utility. Consequently, many attempts to convert the fibrous collagen to useful products by chemical and physical modification of the hide structure have been described US. Pat. Nos. 2,747,228; 3,126,433; 2,637,321; 1,990,121; 2,919,999; 2,090,902; 2,039,262; 3,373,046; 3,505,084; 3,413,129; 3,425,847 and 3,425,846). However, these continuing efforts have not solved the problem of utilization of surplustibrous collagen.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a means of utilizing the surplus collagen.

Another object of this invention is to provide warm neutral dispersions of collagen that can serve as lubricants and binders when usedto make extrusion mixtures or pellets of flours and meals.

Still another object is to provide gels that are impervious to heat, that is gels that do not liquefy when heated.

A still further object is to provide a proteinaceous substitute for a meat product such as bacon.

In general, according to this invention the above objects are accomplished by a process in which washed I and neutralized hides are comminuted, warmed to above 40C. and treated in a high shear field as in a calender, roll mill, valve homogenized or blender. Dispersions made by the process of this invention form gels which do not melt or lose shape in prolonged soaking or boiling in water. I

The following examples are illustrative of this invention without being limiting.

EXAMPLE 1 Fresh splits from commercially limed and unhaired cattlehides were used as raw material. The splits were washed, delimed, neutralized and again washed to a pH of about 6.5. Horsed and drained of superficial-water, the splits were successively cut in rotary blade-cutters and in a comminuting mill fitted with a 0.060 inch cutting head. The product from eight splits contained 28.7% solids which contained about 88% collagen, fat and 0.67% ash. The pH of a water suspension of the solids-was about 6.5 or that of the local tap water.

A warm dispersion of the comminuted hide collagen was prepared by heating it with some water in a steam jacketed mixer so that it reached a temperature of C. in about 10 minutes. The slightly viscous mixture was fed into a spring loaded commercial type valve homogenizer having valves set at 1,500 p.s.i. in each of two stages and put through the homogenizer twice at about 50C. The homogenate contained 7% solids and was a viscous liquid which gelled on cooling.

lnorder to evaluate the usefulness ofthe homogenate as a feed binder, a control sample of shrimp feed was prepared by mixing dry meal shrimp feed with water to make a thick paste having a pH of 5.8. The thick paste was fed into a meat grinder, extruded through a plate having /a inch holes, and collected in the form of rods which were air dried and cut into short pellet-sized lengths.

For comparison with the control sample, preparations were made which contained 1, 3, 5, l0, and 20% (d.b.) ofthe previously described collagen homogenate mixed with dry meal shrimp feed. The mixture was fed into a meat grinder, extruded at 28C. through a plate having inch holes and dried as described for the control sample. The preparations in which 10 and 20% of the homogenate were mixed with the meal were too soft for good extrusion and drying.

The control pellets disintegrated in water at room temperature (about 22C.). The pellets were from mixing 1% homogenate with the feed were only a slight improvement over the control. However, the pellets made from mixing 3% and higher amounts of the homogenate with the shrimp feed did not disintegrate in water at temperatures up to 50C.; they swelled to a firm gel which remained constant on prolonged exposure (48 made as previously described including extruding it through a plate having l/l6 inch holes.

When the above described pelleted preparations containing 3 and 5% of the collagen homogenate were fed to shrimp, the shrimp accepted all the pellets and did not have any difficulty consuming the pellets even after they had swollen to a firm gel. In fact, the shrimp could grasp and hold the pellets better than they could grasp and hold loose feed. Consequently, when pellets were used less feed was wasted.

EXAMPLE 2 357 gms. of comminuted collagen (28% solids) were heated to 65C. in a water bathand then dispersed in" a blender. 900 gms. of dried sweet whey powder and ml. of water were added and mixed with the dispersed collagen. The mixture containing 70% solids was extruded through a /8 inch die, dried and cut into pellets for use as fish and shrimp feed.. The pellets swelled but did not dissolve in water.

EXAMPLE 3 680 gms. of comminuted collagen (28% solids) were EXAMPLE 4 A warm dispersion containing 32% solids was prepared from comminuted hide collagen prepared as in Example I by heating it on a steam bath for 3 hours with intermittant stirring. The pH of the dispersion was 5.8. The dispersion was cast into a silicone treated glass plate and dried. The dried film was smooth and translucent and withstood prolonged boiling in water.

EXAMPLE 5 A warm dispersion having a pH of I05 was made by adding ammonium hydroxide while dispersing the comminuted hide. Part of the dispersion did not-gel on cooling but separated into fiber and fluid. This was discarded. The remainder of the dispersion was heated to 70C. and mixed at high speed in a blender. A dried, cast film of the dispersion withstood boiling in water.

EXAMPLE 6 A warm dispersion containing 6% solids and having a pH of 3.7 was made. The product was a fibrous paste which did not gel on cooling to 8C. The product was warmed and stirred in a blender where at about 39t0 40C. it underwent a transition from paste to fluid which formed a firm gel at room temperature. The gel did not dissolve in boiling water.

EXAMPLE 7 A 6% warm collagen dispersion having a pH of 5.6

was prepared in a blender and then heated at 70C. for

1 hour. The temperature of the dispersion was then lowered to 50C. and a volume of cooking oil equal to the volume of the dispersion was added and mixed vigorously to emulsify the oil in the dispersion. On cooling. the oil emulsified dispersion set to a firm gel.

The procedure above was repeated except that lard was substituted for the cooking oil.

A slice of the gel from each of the above experiments was fried at 170C. without the aid of any additional fat, oil or lubricating aid. Shrimkage during frying was only about demonstrating that these products could be used bacon substitutes.

a gel which will not melt upon prolonged boiling in water;

d. Combining the homogenate of step (c) with dried sweet whey powder and water to obtain a mixture containing from 3 to 5% of the homogenate and about solids. Y

' e. Extruding the mixture through a plate having perforations ranging in diameter from about l/l6 to about /a inches to form rods;

f. Drying the extruded rods; and

g. Cutting the dried rods into pellet-sized lengths of feed that, uponbeing put in water, swell to a firm gel and do not disintegrate at temperatures up to 50C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO. I 3,864,498

DATED I February 4, 1975 INVENTOR(S) I Robert A. Whitmore and Howard W. Jones It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

The following statement should appear in the heading in col. 1:

Assignee: The United States of America, as

represented by the Secretary of Agriculture.

Signed and Sealed this twenty-eight Day Of October 1975 [S AL] Attest:

RUTH C. MASON C. MARSHALL DANN g /1 Commissioner oflatents and Trademarks 

1. A PROCESS FOR PREPARING AN IMPROVED SHRIMP AND FISH FEED, COMPRISING THE FOLLOWING STEPS: A. MIXING COLLAGENOUS COMMINUTED HIDE WITH WATER TO OBTAIN A SUSPENSION HAVING A PH OF ABOUT 6.5; B. WARMING THE COMMINUTED HIDE SUSPENSION TO A TEMPERATURE ABOVE 40*C. C. TREATING THE WARM COMMINUTED HIDE SUSPENSION WITH A HIGH SHEAR FIELD UNTIL THE COLLAGENOUS MATERIAL BECOMES A VISCOUS LIQUID HOMOGENATE CONTAINING ABOUT 7.0% SOLIDS AND THAT IS CAPABLE OF FORMING A GEL WHICH WILL NOT MELT UPON PROLONGED BOILING IN WATER; D. COMBINING THE HOMOGENATE OF STEP (C) WITH DRIED SWEET WHEY POWDER AND WATER TO OBTAIN A MIXTURE CONTAINING FROM 3 TO 5% OF THE HOMOGENATE AND ABOUT 70% SOLIDS, E. EXTRUDING THE MIXTURE THROUGH A PLATE HAVING PERFORATIONS RANGING IN DIAMETER FROM ABOUT 1/16 TO ABOUT 1/8 INCHES TO FORM RODS; F. DRYING THE EXTRUDED RODS; AND G. CUTTING THE DRIED RODS INTO PELLET-SIZED LENGTHS OF FEED THAT, UPON BEING PUT IN WATER, SWEEL TO A FIRM GEL AND DO NOT DISINTEGRATE AT TEMPERATURES UP TO 50*C. 